the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

Saturday 15th August, 12-1pm will see another event outside the Wilco site. We will be continuing to put pressure on the council to act but also raising awareness about the Tesco’s application for an alcohol licence (which is due to be heard on Monday at the Guildhall at 10.00am).

We would ask you to come along and dress the fence with us between 12 and 1pm, bringing with you empty beer cans to form part of our artistic intervention.

Please come and make your voice heard in an artistic and legal way!

We have noticed some interesting things in Tesco’s store plan, which forms part of their alcohol licence application.

On the balance between types of stock:

• The proportion of shelf space for alcohol is inconsistent; the list down the side mentions 6 “mods” (shelving units, basically) for beer wine and spirits, but the drawing itself shows 10 “mods” for booze.]
• 10 out of 82 mods represents 12% of the store’s shelf space to be given over to selling booze.
• 12% of the store’s shelf space means booze represents twice as much as the total space planned for milk, juice, butter, cheese, meat and poultry combined.

On the basis of these figures, the place looks like an off licence/sandwich and snack shop (lots of crisps and sweets)/newsagents, with not very much of the store selling “real” food.

On the right hand side is marked “Affluence: Upmarket”.

The delivery regime also contains an admission of breaking the planning regulations: “Deliveries: Via Entrance”.

Click to view the full-size version

They are also planning to sell “deserts” …

A new section of our website contains collated reports of:

• Traffic problems being created by Tesco’s operation, including lorry blocking and driving on the pavement)
• Evidence of unloading during the banned period
• Evidence of unloading from the front of the site (which is disallowed by planning condition)

http://www.nomillroadtesco.org/category/traffic/

If you spot anything similar, which may indicate a breach of planning condition or an offence of obstruction or driving on the pavement, please:

1. E-mail your report and photos to webmaster@nomillroadtesco.org . We will put this evidence online but anonymise it (unless you state you are happy to have your name public)
2. If you feel that a breach of planning permission has taken place (see below for guidance), please contact the Council:
3. If you feel that an offence of obstruction or driving on the pavement has been committed, report this to the police at 0345 4564564 (local rate number).

Reporting a breach of condition:

The relevant condition being breached is:

Planning permission C/71/0826 for the building at 163-167 Mill Road.

“Condition: No loading or unloading of  goods,  including  fuel,  shall take place otherwise than within the curtilage of the site.”

The reason:  “To  avoid  obstruction  of  the  surrounding  streets  and  to safeguard the amenities of adjacent premises”.

Details of how to report a suspected breach of condition are at http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/planning-and-building-control/planning-enforcement/how-to-report-a-suspected-breach.en

Please report suspected breaches as soon as possible.

We have come across a blog post made on another website, and are reproducing it here as further evidence of the problems already being created by Tesco’s operation:

“My flatmate stood at the bus syop on the Broadway for some 25 minutes on Wednesday 12 August (9.25 am to 9.45 am) and watched a delivery taking place to the Tesco site. A wagon was parked on the street whilst a piece of bulky equipment was being unloaded. Although large, the wagon was smaller than the usual Tesco mobile warehouse. Cyclists and pedestrians struggled to get past (although the fence contributed to that) and the traffic became something of a nightmare (for part of the time there was also a vehicle parked on the opposite side of the road a little further down. Not only was traffic reduced to single lane, the buses and larger vehicles struggled to manage that at times. Tesco suggest they will be doing this at least twice a day, despite knowing they will be in breach of the planning condition. It seems Tesco are not prepared to admit bought the wrong site and go away – presumably losing one battle may encourage more people to stand up to their bullying tactics. Apparently they may also be looking to open a store on East Road, where deliveries will take place across the Adam and Eve Car Park, another traffic nightmare waiting to happen. They have outline permission there, probably because the Tesco name wasn’t mentioned in the application.”

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/planning-and-licensing-challenges-face-mill-road-tesco.html#comment-15565